Prep football: Meadowdale run over by Mountlake Terrace

Utilizing a punishing ground attack, timely passing and a little trickery in the kicking game, Mountlake Terrace jumped out to a 20-0 first quarter lead, then held on for a 30-14 victory over Meadowdale Friday night at Edmonds Stadium.

The win lifted the Hawks record to 1-0 in Wesco 3A play and 2-0 overall and left Meadowdale still looking for its first victory in the 2015 season (0-1, 0-2).

Despite the early deficit, the Mavericks were able to make a game of it against Mountlake Terrace with two touchdowns within 50 seconds of each other midway through the third quarter. Meadowdale quarterback Drew Tingstad connected with Haelin Roberts for an 8-yard touchdown pass, then less than a minute later threw a 3-yard TD pass that was juggled and hauled in by Zach Plummer.

Pulling to within six points happened quickly, but the go-ahead score evaded the Mavericks. Three Tinstad pass attempts from the Mountlake Terrace 11-yard line on the first three plays of the fourth quarter all fell incomplete in the end zone, ending the Mavericks threat to take the lead. The Hawks took over possession and put together a 17-play, 80-yard drive, consuming more than 10 minutes on the fourth quarter clock and ending in a 25-yard Mikey Jenson field goal to take a 23-14 lead.

Meadowdale’s co-captain Bailey Walsh (right) played Friday night after a scare the week before when he was carted off the field and taken to the hospital for medical attention. (Photo by Doug Petrowski)

The Hawks added a final score with 1:08 to go when senior Riley Morrin intercepted a Tingstad pass attempt and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown.

Mountlake Terrace Coach Kelly Duggan was all smiles after the Hawk victory. “It feels fantastic,” he said. “I’m really happy for the kids, of course, for the way they battled. They started fast and finished strong – we’ve got to work on everything in the middle there, but I feel great for these guys.”

The fast Mountlake Terrace start included two touchdowns before the Mavericks even got their hands on the ball. Quarterback Mikey Jenson capped off the Hawks’ first offensive possession of the game with a 27-yard run; then following a successful onside kick Mountlake Terrace drove the ball 41 yards and scored on a Jenson 5-yard run.

Meadowdale’s first offensive possession then lasted only five plays as Mountlake Terrace recovered a fumble then scored four plays later on a Tanner Munnis 1-yard run.

For the game the Hawks rushed for 298 yards and the three first quarter touchdowns. Sixteen of the team’s nineteen first downs were gained by the run.

Meadowdale coach Matt Leonard knew his squad would have their hands full with the Mountlake Terrace ground game. “We kind of expected them to come out and lean on us like that; they’re pretty good size upfront,” he said.

But Leonard also admitted a couple miscues on their part helped contribute to Terrace taking the big early lead.

“The mistakes early in the game: the fumble, the onside kick – we (practiced) that a hundred times. For us not to recover that is inexcusable. Obviously we didn’t do a good enough job because we knew they were going to do it, they did it, and we didn’t recover it,” Leonard said.

While the 20 first quarter points gave the Hawks a big early lead, it was the 17-play fourth quarter drive ending in three points that secured the victory. “That was an amazing drive; I can’t wait to watch it on film,” Duggan said. “That was just about our guys getting tough and digging deep, giving everything they had and finishing strong. We ate up the majority of the fourth quarter on that drive and then the super-clutch kick.”

In addition to kicking the 25-yard field goal with 1:34 to go, Jenson ran for 88 yards on 18 carries, completed four of eight pass attempts, scored two touchdowns and kicked two points-after-touchdown. Overall Mountlake Terrace outgained the Mavericks 338 yards to 204 yards, and dominated in time of possession 33:03 to 14:57.

Jordan Bishop led the Hawks in rushing with 195 yards on 25 carries.

After the loss to Mountlake Terrace and a defeat at the hands of Lake Stevens the previous week, Meadowdale finds itself in uncharted waters. “I told them it’s us against the world right now,” Leonard said of his post-game locker room talk to his squad. “We’ve got to band together. You find out what kind of man you are when the chips are down. And we’re going to find out what kind of team we have.”

“I fully expect our team to respond and recover and have a fantastic week going into a huge rivalry game and a game that means pretty much everything right now,” Leonard added.

Meadowdale faces Edmonds-Woodway on Friday, Sept. 18, in the first game of a double-header at Edmonds Stadium. Mountlake Terrace will hit the road on Sept. 18 to play Shorewood at Shoreline Stadium.

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